prior

\ˈpɹaɪ.ə\

/\ˈpɹaɪ.ə\/ adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“prior” has 7 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #43,083. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#43,083
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Antérieur, préalable.

Corpus desk

Index FR-prior · prior · French

prior · rank #43,083 · 7 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #43,083
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH pressez

Nearest frequency peer: pressez (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « prior »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « prior » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

prior vs pro
60% similar
prior vs prix
60% similar
prior vs pris
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for prior
PropertyValue
Headwordprior
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\ˈpɹaɪ.ə\
Letters5
Frequency rank#43,083
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « prior »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).priorse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « pressez » (#43,082), « prioriser » (#43,084), « prepare » (#43,081). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « prior » est au #43,083. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around prior (IPA \ˈpɹaɪ.ə\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #43,083 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Antérieur, préalable.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for prior, with forms such as "piror", "pprior", and "priorr". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "pro", "prix", "pris", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is prior, spelled P-R-I-O-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Antérieur, préalable.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how prior appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. You don't need any sci-fi or rocket science knowledge of Python (no prior knowledge of image processing, data processing, etc.) to dive into the ocean of Regular Expression.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • piror
  • pprior
  • priorr
  • priro
  • proir
  • prrior
  • rpior

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of prior - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

piror2pprior1priorr1priro2proir2prrior1rpior2
Edit distance from "prior"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "prior"?
"prior" is spelled P-R-I-O-R. The IPA pronunciation is \ˈpɹaɪ.ə\.
What does "prior" mean?
As an adjective, "prior" means: Antérieur, préalable.
What words are commonly confused with "prior"?
"prior" is commonly confused with "pro", "prix", "pris". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "prior"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "prior" is \ˈpɹaɪ.ə\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "prior" come from?
"prior" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "prior", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

plouf#43,072rabin#43,100rapid#43,105rayés#43,107

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

Renzi7 variantsoserai7 variantsrevis7 variantsmiron7 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list